The Falling Star People
by Scope Eva
Summary: A legend past into myth is returning to Equestria, they bring many wonders with them and many terrors but above all else they bring challenges, including ones that should by all fairness remain their own. The Terrans are returning.
1. Chapter 1

Luna stretched lethargically upon the cast iron bench in her corner of the Royal gardens. Reading from the most recent edition of her favourite scientific journal and enjoying her night off by just being generally lazy while admiring the accomplishments of her little ponies. Her sitting place surrounded by Nightshade, Moon Lilies and other flowers that appeared their best in the darkened hours of their world, radiating off reflected moon light in an array of mellow blues and purples or tinted whites. The atmosphere made her quite comfortable in the cool night air.

However this odd variety of plants, either sitting contently within flower beds or crawling over the ornamentation included a few less then natural constructs of Luna's recent botanical experiment, ripe with bio-luminescent fruit, berries, petals or flowers brought into the world through the blend of magical and chemical manipulation by the name of alchemy to which her mind occasionally wandered.

And botany wasn't the only subject Luna was making headway in of course. When investigating Equestria's infrastructure a short while after her return she had found a number of new technologies were being under developed, particularly steam engines and the rail network. Despite Luna's initial reservations over the loud, dirty and potentially dangerous machines they had grown on her due to their potential. Luna was a dreamer by nature after all and she knew of many who dreamed of the wonders this technology could bring them indirectly when she stumbled into said dreams herself.

As such, Luna's endorsement of steam technology had bought in unexpected advancements in the form of new machines such as steam shovels that helped clear the way for new tracks to be laid and increasing efficiency in quarries. Luna was finally beginning to think Ponies were starting to live up to some old friends of hers; long gone friends. They had set some prolific achievements to live up to, even if they had disappeared in the minds of ponies. They were little more than distant folk law in this modern age with a tarnished reputation due to past misunderstandings by her sister and a few ill kept secrets on her own part.

Still, with her ambition to live up to them her botanical and alchemical experiments were just one subject in a long line of scientific intrigues spurred on by her supply of funding out of her considerable stipend, which was itself incited by her passionate side emerging once more much to the simultaneous joy and despair of her sister. Luna found a smile creep up on her when recalling her most recent experimentation with trying to stably solidify nitro-glycerine, a chemical severely underexploited due to its explosively unstable nature. The ingenious invention of a one legged stool by the lead pony on the project was an interesting spin off.

A sharp tune pierced the air shattered her musings, swiftly teraring away her thoughts and bringing her attention to the perpetrator disrupting her at-night day-dreaming activities.

Knowing the source all too well Luna let slip a sigh before turning her attention to the source; one enthusiastic head grounds keeper Mr Hayseed. It wasn't that she hated the stallion or even thought ill of him but-

Another shrill whistle cut through the air.

But he could be irritatingly absent minded at times, to the point of completely ignoring the moods and personal comfort zones of other ponies. This was further emphasised by the fact it took him almost a whole minute to realise her presence.

"Oh, Princess Luna!" he called out in a tone of surprise. A quick courteous bow was administered soon after. "Fancy meeting you here at this time o' night…"

Luna rolled her eyes behind the privacy of her journal. "Indeed, as I regularly am upon this night of the week."

The aging stallion lifted a hoof to his chin in thought. "Huh, that's odd; I usually do m' rounds of the nocturnal section of the gardens on Wednesday nights. What a coincidence," he exclaimed with his twangy country accent ringing on like an out of tune guitar. It was a most alien accent for someone who dwelled in Canterlot.

"Indeed, perhaps we should rearrange our schedules so as not to get in each other's way so frequently," Luna suggested, while keeping her irritation in close check.

Luna was slightly taken aback by the look of shock that crossed his face. "Oh my, Princess please forgive me,"

Despite knowing she should hold better mannerisms Luna couldn't help the smile that was beginning to creep up on her at the fact that the deranged gardener was finally catching on.

"I never meant t' imply y'er presents here was impedin' my work! Even if you were it would never be no inconvenience, please don't ever feel the need t' accommodate fer my meagre duties my Princess," his genuinely dismayed response continued.

It took a great deal of Luna's mental fortitude not to face hoof at the shear ignorance displayed by Mr Hayseed. Instead she put on a smile and tried to take advantage of the comment, "Please, thy work is important. 'Tis your duty to uphold the appearance and dignity of our diarchy and our estate. It would be counterproductive to my own interests to interfere with thy duties."

"Nay princess, it's y'er time t' rest an' relax. I'll be havin' no hoof in interferin' in that. You need a clear head t' rule more than a pretty garden," he announce almost gleefully.

Once again Luna felt herself befuddled, this time by the gardener's words of ignorant and hypocritical wisdom. She did her best to maintain a friendly appearance. He was just far too polite and modest to openly chastise, not to mention irrefutably loyal despite his lowly position. The guard reports of him beating off changelings using mere gardening equipment at a frightening efficiency came to mind.

Still, she began to wonder if she were going about the gardener the wrong way. He was an experienced and evidently competent fellow despite certain short fallings. Perhaps he had something to offer within that area of experience.

"I suppose, let us move towards pleasant conversation. I seek your opinion on my recent creations. Would you care to shear in a professional capacity?" she inquired with a touch of eagerness.

Mr Hayseed looked a little caught off guard by the sudden change of topic but did not hesitate long in his reply. "Oh, well… them plants sure are pretty, if a bit impractical. The tricky bit was all them funny fertilisers they needed. The pests weren't goin' t' last at all though."

"I beg your pardon, to what pests do you refer?" she queried with speculative confusion.

"Just them kooky slugs an' snails of yer's yer majesty. Thought them rather pretty myself until yer sister pointed out they'd be mighty easy fer hedgehogs to spot, though I made a point of tellin' her hedge hogs hunt with their noses not their eyes," he explained candidly.

A subtle tic came to Luna's eye in that moment. "And pray tell, how exactly did my sister prove her point?" she asked. Even Mr Hayseed couldn't miss the poisonous accusation behind the question.

He grew stiff as he realised his position in lines of sight of a now seething Princess. A Princess who single hoofidly slung the moon around like a swing ball on a daily basis.

He gulped. "Well yer majesty, like I said I didn't exactly believe her and she may have possibly ordered me to open the tank they were kept in… and I defiantly didn't lose fifty bits to her," Hayseed explained carefully.

Fortunately for him the Princess's ire was diverted to the balcony of a certain tower. Her experiments had naturally drawn up a lot of attention and not all of it positive. Still, this had worked to her advantage drawing attention to the potential dangers of her biological experimentation. The last thing she wanted was another menace comparable to para-sprites to pop into existence through miss conducted meddling. So of course anything new she came up with was sent through a rigorous string of tests to ensure no harmful side effects to their world's bio-sphere or even magic saturation, not to mention unanimous approval from her sister Celestia and at least five PhD level experts in the field of biology and ecological communities. The newly written laws regarding the mater were cumbersome and irritating but Luna agreed to their necessity.

However this instance of interference was far beyond necessary. A stream of pranks had gone back and forth between the two sisters near constantly since childhood squabbles but this was a step too far for Luna. Celestia was medalling in her personal passions now. Even if the point of the practicality of glow in the dark invertebrates was valid this was a trigger on Luna's rage.

In the depths of her scorn Luna began to mutter her thoughts aloud. "So, though was the one responsible for their eradication. Celestia, sister, I vow you shalt not rest easy for a _long_ time to come for this slight against mine… hobbies."

Afterwards she paused in her seething for but a moment to contemplate whether or not this was too trivial for a feud. She decided it was very much worth it. She had been denied crucial evidence in her tests by this sabotage, not to mention the malicious destruction of her creations. It was fortunate that she still had many samples of the eggs of her precious gastropods. They would be instrumental in the continuation of her experiments… and revenge.

Luna did decide however, against branding hedgehogs as vermin and mandating their extermination throughout the realm. After all, they were merely pawns in her sister's vile plans, victims of her cruel manipulation. Besides, she couldn't stay mad at creatures so fundamentally adorable in their features.

Luna's manic internal plans for vengeance were not to last though, as she was interrupted by the swoop of webbed wings and heavy hoof falls, no doubt one of her guards being the origin. While looking for the source of the frantic trot she took note that Mr Hayseed had obviously sidled off while she was embroiled in though. She brushed the thought aside hastily and turned to the rather concerned Lunar guards pony approaching.

The young female noctral by the name and rank of Lieutenant Nighting Gale, one of her best, snapped off a quick salute. "Ma'am, one of the instruments in the outer tire of the royal vault has been behaving strangely."

Luna raised an eye brow. The monitoring room of the royal vault was filed with instruments to detect numerous miss happenings across Equestria and the rest of the world. Some were designed to detect severe or suspicious weather patterns beyond their borders, others to warn of dark magics within their land, there were seven entirely dedicated to detecting and locating Discord and many more, each increasingly obscure and useful in their purposes. As such it was concerning to hear of their activity from the guards watching over them.

"Well then, we had best not tarry, Lieutenant Gale. Lead the way." Dog marking the journal, a habit she only dare extend to such temporary documents, she rose and began to walk back to the palace. As they began to trot through the gently lit hallways Luna casually continued her queries. "So, what threatens our most bountiful nation tonight? I do hope 'tis not necromancers again, they always seem to think _We_ will be on their side, honestly the arrogance! Not to mention the disrespect of associating mine self with such gruesome activities."

Luna had picked up a habit of personally leading her night guard to counter the odd significant threat that arose every now and then. Her dear sister may have outdone her at every turn in the domain of public relations and diplomacy but Luna had her own talents in the realm of 'aggressive negotiations'.

Nighting Gale looked a little nervous. "We don't know your Majesty, the only instructions attached is that we were to inform you or your sister should it show activity."

A light frown graced Luna's features. If its function was unspecified that meant that meant whatever the disturbance was, it was serious enough not to be within immediate public knowledge. "Then pray-tell, which one was it? Even if its purpose was not on display surly the name is listed somewhere."

"The name was in Ancient Equestrian Ma'am, I'm a little rusty so all I could make out was the first couple of words saying something about slippery room," she replied bashfully.

Luna frowned as she tried to remember which instrument Nighting was referring to, muttering as she did, "Slippery room, slippery room, slippery… space. Slip Space. Tell me! This device, did it compose of a copper frame of a globe with a blue crystal held within its centre?!" Luna questioned almost franticly so.

Nighting recoiled at the abrupt questioning and it took a rather tense second longer than usual for the words to sink in. "I, uh… Yes, Princess. The crystal was glowing and sending out beams of light towards the north-west sky."

Princess Luna's eye's went wide and glassed over for a moment before turning and tearing down the corridor and half flying to the instrumentation room, a panicked Nighting Gale following closely in her wake.

Luna promptly arrived at the antechamber to the vault, successfully startling the guards still monitoring the devices as she rushed in. The instrument in question's crystal was still glowing indicating its recent activation. Carefully she adjusted a couple of dials on its base of the hybrid clockwork magic device and several beams of light appeared pointing up toward the north-west just as Nighting Gale had described.

This was news. Whether it was for good or ill was still to be determined but Luna could not help but remember her stray thoughts earlier. "Coincidence? I think not! An Alicorns intuition seems to say old friends are returning once more! I hope they are not angry for the fate of their brethren… or put in danger by mine sister's overreaction," she whispered both excitedly and worriedly to herself.

Just then a panting Nighting Gale burst into the room. "Y-Your Majesty, is everything all right?"

Luna's ponderous smile lit up her face. It was fairly well known around the palace that it was an expression that meant trouble. It was frequently seen before such incidents as the time she let her pet Python romp through the pantry to get rid of a mouse infestation. The chefs were grateful but the monstrous snake still scared many of the staff half to death.

"We are facing the most jubilant of troubling news my dear Lieutenant! Come quickly, we must inform mine sister!" she announced before swiftly exiting and beginning to race down the corridors of the palace again.

One of the corporals present, a solar guard in navy blue night watch armour, decided to pass her a 'complement'. "All in a nights work, eah Lieutenant?" He smirked for but a second.

The resulting death glare wasn't the worst one could imagine but with draconic yellow eyes backed up by a set of razor sharp fangs it was damned close.

Nighting Gale swiftly made off around the corner muttering about what she would do if they were in the same chain of command. As a part of the Lunar Guard the most she could do is file a formal complaint and doing so for something so little as a stray comment wouldn't reflect well on her character.

Nighting Gale sighed and resigned herself to the fact she would probably be running back and forth around the castle all night. Again. The things she would do in the name of their beloved mistress of the night. Stealing a glance at her own flank where a plat of deep purple armour covered a cutie-mark consisting of a swirling eddy like pattern of stars, and she couldn't help but smile, just a little bit…

All in a nights work indeed.


	2. Chapter 2

The large oval shaped room was fairly quiet. The long view screen stretching around the front edge imitating windows had little to offer but a pitch black void so empty even the stars were absent. The only hint there was anything else out there were the odd flickers of colour as exotic particles bounced off the radiation shields giving an effect that strongly resembled the Aurora Borealis back on Earth. While pretty, they were mere wisps in comparison and not very entertaining to look at after the hours, even days that were spent gazing at them while submerged in the compressed dimension of slipstream space; the truly alien plain of existence that allowed the speed of light to be bypassed.

Despite the almost literal sense of nothing happening due to the nature of slipstream space the human Captain Laurence Rose-well watched over the sterile, utilitarian bridge of his assault frigate diligently, hunched over the large tactical display table with a stereotypically cold cup of coffee not far away. The quite, almost sombre mood was a fairly common one for the long uneventful spans of time spent in Slip-Space transit. The bridge crew was sparse at the moment, less than a quarter of the few dozen work stations and only two of the six direct interface alcoves in the floor were occupied.

The 'UTGS First Step' was a ship ill-suited to the task at hand. Assault frigates and others sharing their 'assault' class were heavily armoured, designed to bombard and then smash their way through planetary defences, sometimes literally with its armoured shark-like head, to deploy beach head forces to the surface. The design was also tough enough to survive heavy fire from enemies making it competent in defensive situations or when caught by surprise attacks. Combined with powerful engines it was fast, if not too manoeuvrable.

However hunting down Karak slavers who had snuck out of the demilitarised zone set up by the United Orion Alliance was a job for smaller, faster types of frigate with better sensors or ideally a carrier with slip space capable fighters. Not a strike group of the overweight assault series ships. Unfortunately this was the far side of the Karak demilitarised zone where forces were spread thin. Considering this had happened dozens of times before in the last half a decade alone he thought Terran fleet command or their allies in the UOA would have sent better equipped ships to garrison the area but no. The politicians were too busy parading their more sophisticated ships in front of their rivals in the Council of Races. Laurence had to settle for a few dury-rigged upgrades to their sensor suites and extra batch of recognisance probes form the local fleet base.

"We'll be emerging into real space in twenty minutes," announced his navigation officer, bringing the captain back into reality.

"Hm? Good," Laurence said acknowledging the report half-heartedly. "Camilla!" he called.

A translucent figure of a dark skinned woman in tribal garb appeared beside him. "Usual drill Captain?" Camilla the AI construct in charge in charge of the ship's systems responded dutifully, avatar courtesy of the small array of sealing mounted projectors the tactical display table was also tied into.

"Yes, usual drill: everyone on duty to their stations and everyone else on alert. Have our fighters and interceptor drones ready to form a screen patrol. Also, tell gunnery control to load those probes into our mag-launch tubes. I want us ready to deploy as soon as we're in system." He taped the controls of the tack-table bringing up the readouts for 'First Step' attached to a wire frame model of the ship itself.

It began with its symmetrical shark-like head, four channels on each quarter marking its main magnetic missile launch tubes and the thin line of windows half way up its nose where the forward observation rooms were located. After that a thinner neck segment connected it to the hexagonal main body where the broadside plasma and neutron laser batteries were. It finished with a pair of fission-torch engines and four banks of ion engines mounted on individual armatures for manoeuvring.

"Aye, aye sir! Preparing probes to be wasted on organic paranoia sir. Consider it done." She winked out of existence before he could scold her.

As the ships AI she could, if she chose, hear anything said across the ship outside of crew quarters and was constantly mongering critical systems and locations so he could still reprimand her but they had been through the conversation too many times before. Her teasing rarely let up.

After the Karak force had jumped the border into uncharted space to the galactic east they dispersed, as usual. Now he was following the trajectory of one of their slip-space entry scars to the nearest star system along its path. It was actually quite some distance but the chances of finding them after the first jump were small. Chances were by the time they got there the ship they were tracking had already jumped to another system leaving only another slip-space scar to follow. These chases could last for months and only ever stopped when the Karak either found something of interest to plunder usually resulting in a last stand against pursuing UOA forces or they were lucky enough to drop out near a gas giant and use the atmosphere to hide their next slip scar, losing the pursing force.

"Emergence in five minutes!"

The remaining stations on the bridge had quickly been filled to full capacity. Each crewman was snug in their crash seats, secured by the fixtures on their uniform pressure suits.

"Ensure all our gun batteries are charging, remove missile rack safeties and prep close in weapon systems. I don't want to be caught with our pants down." Laurence knew his crew were good enough to do things by themselves but it never hurt to reinforce their training. After all, emerging from slip-space they would be blind to whatever was out there.

The ship shuddered with the disturbance in space time they were creating. For a brief moment every man, woman and other living being on the ship felt that tingle of wrongness that came with passing through a hole in the fabric of the universe. Even AI were driven a little mad if they tried too hard to analyse the sensor readings. Then, as if there was some significance beyond the symbolic the bridge crew sprung to life in a chorus of status reports.

"Emergence complete, we are now in real space."

"Deceleration complete. We're drifting at a hundred and twenty kilometres per second…"

"All crew stations report ready and waiting…"

"All ship systems read nominal…"

"Beginning sensor sweeps…"

"Fighters and drones report successful launches…"

"Missile launch control awaiting your orders to launch probes…"

"No ships detected…"

"Star charts show we have arrived as intended…"

He took a moment to think. "Hold on those launches, wait to see if anything else turns up." Camilla had a point after all, why waste good probes?

"Hmm… you might want to retract that order."

Laurence turned to see the image of the AI staring out at the system they had emerged into, seemingly in thought. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

She shrugged. "What our dear sensor officer Dave is no doubt about to report."

He started to realise the mutterings of the Transhuman crew manning their floor alcoves, directly interfacing to the ship through their many implants, eyes covered with their interface visors and submerged in conductive gel. They were responsible for all their electronic warfare efforts, various electronic counter measures, helping prioritise targets and add an intuitive edge to sifting through all the terabytes of data that had to pass through the ships computers every second. Sure, computers could do most of these tasks but that creative spark of a sentient, when well trained and appropriately augmented, got it done in a manor all the more flowing and fitting.

"Well Ensign? What haven't you told me yet?" He asked expectedly, moving to the large array of displays his station entailed.

"Uh, a whole lot of stuff sir. Freaky stuff too." He certainly looked awkward as he searched for the right words. "First we have one habitable planet, or at least it _looks_ habitable from here. Has a single moon. Estimate… eleven thousand kilometres in diameter and four and a half thousand respectively."

Now that was surprising. Natural garden words were rare at the best of times while most of the United Terran Government's worlds were terraformed, boasting only a fraction of the ecology. More importantly it was one of those interesting things the Karak were willing to stop running for.

"Had better launch those probes, now. Those dam zealots will fight to the death to claim a garden world. Best get our position out to the rest of the fleet as well. The Vallarie will be eager to get their battle ship out here stat." The pure amount of firepower their reptilianoid friend's multi kilometre long battle ships could dish out were enough to win small wars in a matter of a few salvoes. Despite the fact they would likely steal their thunder in discovering a new world the ship would provide indispensible in dealing with against fanatical hold outs quickly and painlessly.

"Aye sir, probes away and spreading out for best coverage."

"Aye, reporting tire four asset to the fleet sir."

Dave politely coughed; he still had more to add. "This is where things start getting strange sir. The sun's a yellow dwarf like we guessed if a bit small for its power output and… Well I don't quite believe this myself but its moving, moving fast. If the numbers I'm crunching are correct the _sun_ is going around the _planet_! On a twenty four hour time scale as well. Huh, moon to if the numbers are right," he rattled off at an excited pace.

Naturally, one of the first conclusions Laurence jumped to was an ill-timed joke over this monstrosity of a flaw in the laws of physics but the screens clearly displayed the same thing the Ensign was talking about and thus no joke.

"Have you run a diagnostic?" It was almost as unpleasant a prospect as the crew playing pranks at such a time. If such a severe error in their computer systems was detected before his ship left the docks of their resupply station, protocol would have kept them in dry dock until it was corrected.

"Yes sir, twice since we took the initial sensor sweep. No errors found that could have caused a miss read on this scale. Multiple sources confirming each other as well."

The air was beginning to get restless. If the crew weren't busy making sure the ship was running as per their training the scuttlebutt would already be half way back to Alpha Centaury. Such a blatant violation of the laws of physics was mind bending.

"Camilla, can you confirm this?"

"Yes Captain, I can." She replied immediately. "And since I took the liberty of personally guiding one of the probes into orbit I can also confirm that the Karak are defiantly still in system, though, out of sight for the moment." A flick of her finger and a 2D image was conjured up above the display table.

The image sent Laurence's blood running cold.

"I need a priority communique to command now! We have a tire TWO asset, Fara'glee protocol." He demanded, his usually calm demeanour turning half panicky.

The order was one that gave pause to every crew member on the bridge, even the Transhumans submersed in the ships systems tensed up acknowledging the emotional impact of the orders while in their odd state. Each crewman turned to see the same image electing excitement and curiosity but always overshadowed by that same shade of fear as their captain.

"Camilla, I want a ship wide channel open _now_," he demanded, the AI simply nodding and faded out. "As per protocol this ship and any other UOA vessel entering this system is to escalate to Combat Readiness Condition one. All personnel at their stations! All shifts to axillary positions! All combat personnel ready to deploy to surface ops or rappel borders as assigned! We are at 'local war' people, Fara'glee protocol has been implemented, I repeat, Fara'glee protocol is in effect." His own words echoed back to him a split second later through the ship wide announcement system and no doubt reverberating through every Terran on bored. "You all know what that means, what is potentially at stake. I trust I will see only your best from here on in, captain out. Helmsman! Full speed into orbit."

"Aye, aye sir!" he acknowledged; him and his partner springing to work energetically enough to think the devil himself was chasing.

Laurence merely glared out into space, focusing on the almost familiar pale blue-green dot they were quickly approaching. He retook his position at the display table staring hard at the image before him. It was an image taken from orbit, a costal region of a large continent on the northern hemisphere. However the defining aspect of the image was the two large clusters accompanied by numerous smaller ones of yellowish lights distinct to sodium based filament lighting. Each of the larger clusters was roughly arranged into crisscrossing grids of lines. It was a distinct give away of a city wide power grid.

"There's a civilisation down there, and I'll be damned if I let some Karak slaver band raise it to the ground." His resolve quickened in that moment. It was over a century ago but the events still hung heavy in the minds of every being in the United Orion Alliance. "I will _not_ let another Fara'glee happen, never again. _Never_."

* * *

><p>Rainbow Dash found herself in an unusual predicament, though to be honest these days that was hardly unusual itself after the day Twilight Sparkle came to town. What most certainly was unusual was the experience of being both excited and calm at the same time. It made her feel antsy inside, as much of a contradiction that was. Her task was one of patience and intellect; something most would consider surprising much to Rainbow's chagrin. She was Mare enough to admit to herself she was brash and quick to act, even a braggart at times but what annoyed her the most was when ponies assumed that made her stupid.<p>

She was not stupid. Maybe not _sensible_ but defiantly not an outright idiot. What gave that impression was when ponies over complicated what they were saying with long, fancy words that more often than not had more syllables then the half a dozen every day words that could be used instead. If they needed proof otherwise all she needed to do was show them her school maths certificates.

Maths was logical. Logic was straight forward. Strait forward was easy. Half the time she forgot the names that went with the methods but all it was, was a problem laid out with simple values. It surprised her that few others in her classes could actually keep up with her. Well, as much as usual anyway; she was the fastest pony in Equestria. When she completed a problem for her egg head of a friend Twilight she had to go and dig up her old certificates to prove it wasn't a prank. Twilight was nearly catatonic after reading through the straight A- maths grades about a dozen times looking for any evidence of forgery. She had even bought Fluttershy into it to confirm since her and Rainbow did a lot of growing up together.

It was Rainbow's hope that her current activity would change those rather insulting assumptions about her IQ count. So she steeled herself for the task at hand and paid close attention with her sharp, well-honed eyes as she looked up at the sky. A hardened expression on her face, determined not to cave into her itching need to get up, move around and ignore the rapidly listed off instructions for the telescope in front of her, provided by her good willed but overly complicating friend. Naturally it was wearing her patience thin. Still, a deal was a deal and since Twilight was now taking daily morning jogs with herself and occasionally Applejack, Rainbow Dash had to buy into one of Twilight's 'nerdy' activities in return.

They made an odd pair of friends at the best of times; Rainbow Dash the usually brash, athletic rainbow manned Pegasus, weather manager of the Ponyville region and Twilight Sparkle the slightly neurotic but unquestionably intelligent and well-meaning lavender coated unicorn that ran the local library diligently. However as the years they had spent together wore on they found they could complement each other quite nicely.

"So, if we increase the angle of right-ascension by five degrees and turn to three hours five minutes meridian we should be able to see the constellation of 'Celestia's horny'. Wait, what!?" The text book Twilight was reading from was a recent publication written by Princess Luna herself, a gift for Twilight's birth day. "It must be a misprint, or something." The lavender mare was now blushing furiously. She looked to her friend slightly bug eyed, hoping her friend didn't pick up on the embarrassing sentence.

There was a fat chance of that.

Said friend was doing her best to contain a smirk and act natural but was failing almost impressively so; nothing new there then. Rainbow felt it was less a misprint and more Luna poking fun at her sister. Rainbow Dash didn't know Luna _that_ well but after Nightmare Night and talking with her at the wedding she knew there was a prankster hidden under that stern visage of the Night Princess. It took one to know one after all.

Newspaper clippings of her leaning her head out a high speed steam train cabin covered in soot reinforced that fact a week later. Rainbow was sure she did it just to make Rarity faint at the sight of the article.

Still, it was best not to comment on the book as such would invite unwanted attention and a stern talking to considering the content of the joke. Instead Rainbow simply got on with twiddling the dials on the telescope to bring it into position and focus.

However as Twilight began rambling on about the constellation's history and story of origin, which due to the book in front of her was considerably different from what she learnt in school from Celestia, Rainbow noticed something strange. It was there only for a moment but long enough for her to know it was not some trick of the light. She had seen a brief streak of bright green and white light. Squinting into the lens and keeping a rose maroon eye pealed she waited patiently. Another! This time however it was followed by a cluster of fast moving burning blue dots. Carefully adjusting the telescope she followed the lights, which were now appearing in a near constant stream, to its source; a silvery blob. Looking up from the telescope and knowing [i]where[/i] to look she could just about see it with the naked eye.

"Twi'?" She called but no response came from Twilight who was caught up arguing with the book over the differences between what it said and what she had learnt from Celestia. It wasn't the first time this particular book had caused a problem.

Refocusing the lens to get a clearer image the shiny thing it now appeared much sharper and rigid. Suddenly a jet of fire burst from the back of it and it began to elongate. It took her a moment to realise it wasn't getting larger but turning and moving. Indeed the object began turn and accelerate in the direction it was sending out the green beams and blue pulses.

"Twilight…" Still no reply, Twilight now getting infuriated over the lack of references to sources in the book.

Staring at the thing in the sky she now noticed small yellow flashes along its body, each time one hit it seemed to shudder slightly. The strange beams and pulses reminded her of casting magic so she deduced that whatever it was must have been casting spells on something so she followed them to their destination and was rewarded with a great big grey block of hard lines and rough surfaces.

Trying to get an idea on what was going on she fiddled with telescope to get a wider view. It turned out the green beams and blue pulses, that she assumed were some form of magic, were traveling from the long silvery fish like thing to the bulkier thing. In addition she noticed several small flashes from the blocky thing that seemed to time up with the flashes and shudders on the first one. Suddenly a small chunk of the rocky one fell away as one of the green beams dragged across it and suddenly it dawned on her.

They were fighting. Her heart rate rose and a small dose of adrenalin dropped into her blood stream.

"Twilight!" She found herself practically shouting.

The mare abruptly stopped her rambling about lack of appropriate editing to look at her. She suddenly found herself growing uncertain at the uncertain fear in her friend's eyes. "Yes Dash, what is it?"

"I really, really _really_ think you should come and have a look at this like… _right now_." She explained unsteadily.

Twilight raised a sceptical eyebrow but trotted over to the telescope, ready to put her friend's fears to rest and peered through it. "What in the world?" She exclaimed at the sight of the silvery fish like thing and the larger stockier thing Rainbow had been watching for the past minuet. A pair of bright flashes later from the rocky thing and the silvery one was rocked backwards by the resulting force. Then several small flames appeared near the silver one and began accelerating towards the rocky one. When they hit Twilight had to recoil away from the telescope the light was so bright. "By Celestia!"

A sudden gasp from Rainbow confirmed it was clearly visible to her as well. "Wh-what happened!? Did they just explode? Are they still there?"

Peeking back into the telescope Twilight saw the rocky thing was now drifting apart, occasional explosions making the remaining parts change course further. Then a number of flames like the ones before appeared but these were different; they were larger, slower, more of them and most importantly they were heading down, seemingly towards her.

She turned towards her friend, stoic expression adorning her face. "Dash, I need you to go wake up Spike, right now. The princesses need to hear about this… whatever _this_ is."

Dash nodded dutifully, still somewhat shocked, before jumping off and gliding down the stairs with her wings spread.

Twilight had told Rainbow not to fly inside the Library a hundred times already but it seemed they had more important things to worry about at the moment. She turned back to the telescope and began to track the downwards traveling flames. Fortunately it had become apparent they didn't seem to be landing anywhere near Ponyville and Canterlot but she would need a map to find out where about they did eventually land. Somewhere out to the west that was for sure.

Turning her attention back to the sky above she noticed the silver one hadn't quite given up life and its green and blue attack spells, or what she assumed were spells, had started firing at the chunks of the bigger one though at a far slower rate than before. It was now she realised that a group of the chunks were traveling downwards, a different direction to the outwards scattering pattern they were before. Looking closely she saw bursts of the same flames along their top edge. It didn't take the mare a moment longer to realise the flame were some sort of propulsion, though how fire so directly caused acceleration escaped her.

Then it hit her, almost as hard as her own hoof to her forehead. "Fire works! There using rockets, or at least something _like_ rockets to move around!"

A moment later Spike came trudging up the stairs, a glum expression on his face and followed by an excited Rainbow Dash just about holding a quill, ink pot and peace of parchment in the crook of her wings.

The tired dragon gave a dejected sigh. "What is it Twi? All Dash said was something about metal fish fighting in space." The incredulous look he had on display would probably cause one of the princesses to second guess themselves. "You were reading comic books behind Twilight's back again weren't you?"

Dash scowled at the smaller, scalier figure. "I did not…! Was not. I said one of them _looked_ like a _shark_! A bit. Sort of." Her temper flared for a moment, giving one of her challenging stares to the tired dragon.

"This is no time for arguing! Now Spike; I need you to take a letter and Dash; I need you to fetch me a map of Equestria, a copy I can write on," Twilight ordered. "There should be spear copies in my supplies draws underneath 'Cartography'. There should also be a bunch of tools in one of the smaller ones, get me, uh… just get me one of each for now," Twilight asked, realising Rainbow wouldn't know the names and describing them would just take too long.

"Yes Ma'am!" Dash replied, giving a salute before once again gliding down the stairs. Twilight made a note to mention that later. She had only recently managed to reinforce the point that having her crash through one of the widows on a weekly basis was not the appropriate way to treat a library.

She turned back to the waiting dragon. "Okay, Spike. Ready to begin?"

"Yup! All set to go." He responded, quill in claw and ready to write.

"Good. Now; Dear Princess Luna and Celestia…" Twilight began.

"What! Oh pony feathers," the young dragon cursed before discarding the parchment and grabbing another sheet to start anew. "The one time she doesn't start with Celestia." He let out a board sigh. "Why do I get the feeling this is going to be an all-nighter?"

Twilight could only roll her eyes, already exasperated from her row with the seemingly consciously offensive astronomy book. However she couldn't but accept Spike was right; it was indeed going to be one of _those_ nights.


	3. Chapter 3

_"So, how does it feel Celestia? To be on the brink of losing everything you have ever worked for? Your whole life to come crashing down around you?" the imposing and snide face of the Queen of the changelings demanded of her. However it was somewhat difficult to regard her seriously given the large slice of wedding cake she was chomping away at and had been childishly mocking Celestia with moments ago._

_"I can honestly say I sympathise, after all; it's happened to myself before," she claimed, sending an accusing glare in the direction of the pink alicorn stuck to the floor with that unyielding adhesive green gloop._

_Much to Celestia's surprise Cadence looked away, a hint of shame leaking through a mask of indignation. Her millennia old eyes were far too honed not to cut through it, even with the world tinted a sickening green and turned upside-down._

_"But let us not worry about that, it's a private matter we'll be discussing later. For now it's all about you! Isn't that exciting?" she claimed in a crude mockery of glee, circling her less than solid prison. "It must be so good to finally have those age old sins lifted off your shoulders with a little righteous retribution." Her hooves glided forward as she trotted over to the windows, sighing as she looked out on the chaos around her. "Old broken treaties reinstated whether you like it or not, stolen lands returned by force and countless dead reprimanded by sacking…"_

_Celestia for once in very few times in her life began to feel genuinely stumped. While she had certainly dealt with changelings before and even infringed on their lands but she had never negotiated with them or claimed any land they owned, not that she previously though they were capable of making such claims though._

_A lowed clash rang out as a certain plate with the half eaten slice of cake impacted the floor. Discarding cake in front of the diarchy; yet another crime Celestia made sure to bring up should she ever have the chance to put the megalomaniac of a Queen on trial._

_In that moment the Queen grew ridged before whipping back around to face Celestia. "Confusion? You have the audacity to be bemused by our actions!? I may be too young to have experienced what you did to us but we remember everything! I've seen the memories! We were at peace and then you came along sprouting your regurgitated nonsense about indoctrinated towns and slaughtered any changeling you could find! And you didn't stop there either; you and your soldiers plundered our lands and killed even our young in cold blood!" the Queen ranted in a furious cascade of claims. "How could you possibly [/i]not[i] expect hostility!?"_

_However Celestia was now she was more muddled than ever. There had been a heavy changeling infestation when she had first come into power alongside her sister and perhaps she had dealt with it more harshly then was appropriate but she never recalled any peace or formal borders being violated. Luna had destroyed a hive of theirs in that area but it had been an illegal settlement within their borders… hadn't it? The memories were rather distant being some of her earliest well over three thousand years ago and well before even the reign of Discord._

_The changeling Queen was now staring in shock at the princes. "You… don't know? That, it doesn't make sense! No, you're trying to trick me you manipulative old hag! But…" The once calm, collect and gloating changeling was now squirming in a mess of misleading and contradicting facts. "How could you not know!? How could you have done all of that and not…" the passionate demands were visibly drawing her to tears._

_It was fairly well known to Celestia that changelings had the ability to sense emotions and generalised intentions, even the vague subjects of thoughts if they were attentive enough. It was one of the things that made them so slippery as they instantly knew if a pony meant them harm or suspected them. Though she also supposedly knew they were mere beasts, driven by instinct alone and while the hordes of changelings showed little to contradict that this Queen, something Celestia had never heard of before was clearly something more._

_Right now however, the ability was proving to be a problem of sorts for her opponent, showing off Celestia's own emotions that were clearly conflicting with the Queen's own information._

_Unfortunately for Celestia it didn't last long. "We have them," she declared, snapping out of her angry stupor, looking towards the doors. "Your elements won't be bothering us any time soon Celestia." Her victorious grin had returned, even if it was more unsteady then before to Celestia's eyes._

_She took up her position, ready for another round of righteous gloating. She cast one last glance at Celestia and whispered to her in such an odd combination of resentment and reassurance; "calm down dearie, we won't be keeping Canterlot for too long…"_

Brilliant magenta eyes snapped open. Celestia's sleep had been disturbed.

A shame, she was hoping to examine more of her memories then that. The dream had been one of her own making, a means to re-examine events that were still perplexing her. The Queen's words had revealed that there had been more to her 'invasion' then one would initially assume. To be frank it should have been more obvious, the changelings had bought enough numbers to take Canterlot but certainly not enough to hold it against the inevitable counterattack. At first Celestia had assumed stupidity and arrogance but now? Now she wasn't so sure and so many reviews of the events continued to hint at something deeper.

A distraction perhaps? Or maybe some sort of grand gesture? The aftermath had made it clear it was no attempt to weaken them. Casualties had been amazingly low and many citizens and guards alike testified that only when a changeling was killed did they respond with lethal force in kind. Make shift fortified positions were avoided completely; simply blockaded, cut off and left to wither.

There had been some serious wounds as well but there were also numerous, even consistent accounts of changelings claiming to be trained in medicine tending to ponies' wounds. Admittedly this was offset by their ruthlessness when dealing with those who had killed even one of their kind but it showed that they were not quite the monsters many officials were making them out to be or as Celestia last remembered them. It brought back memories of others as, well the sea ponies, the griffons, the minotaurs and many more who encroached on the early Equestria with greedy eyes, all she had to fight to repel.

Still, there was a single important statistic that always came to the fore front of her mind when the invasion was brought up.

Eleven. The number shook Celestia in a way she was far from used to. A full scale invasion and only eleven guards had been killed out of the entire Canterlot garrison of over one thousand two hundred. Most were excessively violent deaths but at the same time so few of them…

To add to it most of the damage done was purely cosmetic. Yes it was still expensive to repair but it seemed as if they had been avoiding anything that would cause serious disruption to Canterlot's infrastructure. Hospitals weren't even so much as touched, food stashes were left alone and particular effort was put into securing Canterlot's modest train yards with as little damage as possible.

Naturally it caused much confusion as soon as the details were released. Before there were demands for an increased military budget from the wider populous but after the details were revealed the public started wanting information that simply wasn't there. The conspiracy theories started soon after, the distinct lack of information on changelings only fanning those fires. She could have sworn herself there should have been more information both in quantity and quality on them in the archives but they, the library and even royal records office had remained seemingly untouched during the invasion.

Then there was the matter of Cadence. From the meagre dialogue she had observed between the young princess and the Queen they had a history, Celestia was particularly surprised when Cadence had burst in and proceeded to announced that she knew exactly what a changeling was.

Celestia had meant to confront Cadence on the subject but decided not to at the time letting her enjoy her honeymoon. When she approached the topic at a later time all Celestia had managed to get out of her was that it was an old family matter, from her original family that is. The incident with the reappearance of the Crystal Empire occurring not long after made it near impossible for Celestia to coax more out of her.

Celestia's heart truly went out to the young alicorn. Her early life had a somewhat traumatic ending, with her parents murdered in their own home for petty cash in her mid-adolescence. To be honest the thieves had chosen quite well as her father was a wealthy contributor to a vineyard and professional bee keeper producing large quantities of cheap wine and even some mead for the masses so petty cash was in abundance. Her mother being one of the once-every-other-century mares blessed with the ability to birth alicorn foals also helped as she was granted quite the Royal stipend to put towards maintaining her privacy.

Being an alicorn the Canterlot nobility soon tried to snap her up for adoption. Celestia had a helping hoof in making sure she got to a caring family who just happened to be the last surviving hairs to the Crystal Empire's throne. A fortunate arrangement as Celestia had for a long time before the Empire's fall been trying to unite the Crystal ponies with the original three tribes.

However the only loose end Celestia could find were rumours of a younger sister kept hidden by Cadence's parents. Following up on the rumours she found it odd that this sister was registered as a unicorn in her birth records; the mother being who she was should have not conceived of such a foal. Unfortunately almost no evidence had survived the incident after so many decades and with Cadence leagues away running the Crystal Empire answers were not coming easily.

Taking a deep breath Celestia decided to concentrate on the present and by extension what had awoken her.

Reaching out to the world around her by means of her magic it seemed the disturbance was herself, or rather her spell work.

Being as well practiced in magic as she was Princess Celestia had the great pleasure of being able to tailor her own sleeping patterns. She had done so skilfully as well, as her carefully nudged subconscious would even adjust to circumstance. So when a guard or other pony carrying irritating and unimportant news or had come to inform her of one of her more pointless duties she had to attend to she would, in the words of her sister, sleep like a bear. It wasn't perfect of course as more than once she had awoken later on of her own accord hugging said messenger like a stuffed toy on account of them get just a bit too close. Fortunately, and much to her pride's relief, none had reported it an entirely unpleasant experience, only somewhat awkward.

Who said managing god like responsibilities had to be such a serious affair after all? One of Discords few philosophies she had later took to heart, though with a heavy dose of moderation. Ironically a little bit of chaos now and then helped keep her sane and goodness knows she needed her sanity.

However this is where her sensitivity to circumstance came in. If genuinely important news was being delivered to her she would wake almost immediately. Well, that and pleasant surprises. Or unpleasant ones including knives, crossbow bolts and poison but much to her disappointment there had been none of those in over a decade. Chasing assassins around the palace had been an oddly enjoyable workout for her. That was when none of her guards got hurt in the process of course.

As it just so happened one of those surprises had just awoken her. It seemed the gentle fizz and pop had awoken her just in time for a rolled up scroll to hit the sheets right next to her head. Clearly a letter sent to her via the young dragon Spike from her dear pupil and niece in law Twilight Sparkle, a relation she had to insist on using but had grown on her in time. It was a shame Twilight forwent the offered Ladyship; Celestia could have used more level headed and emotionally alive nobles around.

Slowly she began to read…

And slowly her heart began to sink.

* * *

><p>Dear Princess Luna and Celestia<p>

I am weighting to inform you of an unusual phenomenon myself and my friend have discovered earlier this very night. While star gazing Rainbow Dash spotted a number of unusual lights in the night sky while I was [s]investigating Luna's[/s] occupied with other matters. She traced these lights back to their source which appeared to be a pair of large objects in orbit of our planet.

One was long and silver producing green beams and fast moving blue dots while the other was more rugged, grey and only produced flashes of light. I myself discovered while observing them that the objects were using some sort of rocket system to move.

Unfortunately further observation revealed that these lights were causing damage and thus Rainbow came to the conclusion they were in fact fighting. She drew my attention to the spectacle just in time to whiteness the smaller one deploy a volley of rockets –or what I believe were rocket propelled weapons- that produced impossibly large explosions for their size destroying the larger ship. The smaller one was damaged but intact and still functioning enough to move itself. However what is of greater and quite possibly grave importance is that I observed both produced a number of smaller objects that, if my calculations are correct, have landed somewhere in the Mild West in the same region as Appaloosa. While I am trying to supress my anxiety for the moment I can't help but fear these aliens have brought a war to our world.

Eagerly awaiting your response,

your most faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

* * *

><p>"Oh my…" The memories bought up by this letter were not entirely unpleasant ones but certainly disturbing. The technology or even magic required to reach the stars and travel among them was, to her knowledge, dangerous information. Not necessarily unstable but far too easily turned into a force for destruction by those lacking harmony or compassion in their hearts.<p>

Fortunately the bringers of that knowledge possessed both in abundance, stoic and just in their resolve to hunt down others who possessed such knowledge and were hiding in her realm. More primitive barbarians who had stranded themselves on her world and hid from their pursuers until more developments elsewhere forced those wise ones away. Unfortunately the aliens left were a chaotic bunch who's meagre survivors had actually dared to assisted Discord in his rain of chaos, sighting the ponies control over their world as a violation of the natural order. They did not appreciate harmony in the slightest but fortunately she had been able to eliminate their ilk and seal away their technology.

An odd tingling in the back of her mind interrupted her thoughts. "Ah, and of course on the subject of those with a distinct lack of Harmony," she joked to herself, "five, four, three, two, one, and…"

Her chamber doors bust open with velocity comparable to that of a cannon ball. Not a rare occurrence.

"Sister! We have the most wonderful of news!" The dark alicorn announced.

"Oh? Might this have to do with the pair alien craft currently tearing apart one another above our world?" Cellestia responded almost dreamily.

"Nay, it…" she began but soon cut off in bewilderment. "Wait what dose thou speak of? They are battling!? How did thou learn of this sister?"

"My faithful student happened upon it a little earlier this night it would seem," she explained simply as she stretched upon her bed and magically passed the letter to her sister.

"Ah, Twilight Sparkle. It would seem thy student and friends are magnets for these sorts of happenings." Luna frowned out of concern for one of her few close friends but also something more.

Her dissatisfaction came from her new position. The royal advisors and nobles did not approve of Luna's tendency to directly interfere and personally medal in government affairs as Luna was used to being able to do freely. Being held back from the fight with king Sombra had irked her quite a bit. However, much to Celestia's pride in her Luna steamed on ahead anyway. Her sister's passion was her strength, even if it doubled as a weakness at times.

"Indeed, it would appear that way," Celestia mused, as calm and collect as always. She climbed up from her circular bed, taking a moment to roll her joints and loosen up. "I would not want to cause a panic but we had best do something about this. Oh, and how did _you_ learn of this Luna?"

"Why, the instrumentation within the vaults of course. A total of seven ruptures into the Slip Stream realm were detected," the Princess announced somewhat excitedly as they proceeded out of the room. "It gladdens me that old friends are potentially returning, even if enemies of theirs are potentially involved," Luna pondered as she looked out across the night sky via Celestia's window.

"Luna, we have no idea if one of the factions will be them or not. They were not the only ones who used that dreadful realm for travel," Celestia admonished, briefly catching an abnormally pained excretion from her sister. "We had best rouse the rest of the Guard. I do not like the fact that there have been that many anomalies and yet only two ships accounted for, let alone they were in heated battle. I also wasn't aware those old friends of ours excited you so."

"Yes, well… perhaps I was not the most expressive so long ago," she replied weekly, some secret evident but Celestia made no move to push her sister for more. "Besides, there may be cause for concern but regardless, there is potential for many fantastic things that are yet to come." Luna snorted in good humour as they began to walk out of Celestia's room and down the corridor. "You always had such an odd phobia of voids considering we work with one on a daily basis. Nighting Gale, please go to the barracks and tell the captains to meet us in the cartography studio."

The lieutenant barely held in a sigh, gently panting as she had only just arrived. "Yes Ma'am, right away," she said drolly before scampering back off.

Celestia rolled her eyes. Luna did things like that on purpose. Not in a malicious sense or even as a joke but as a test. "You think she will make a fine Captain one day don't you sister?" Celestia asked rhetorically. "Oh, and the Astral Plain is hardly a void!"

Luna huffed and tilted her head up in indignation. "It lacks any sort of physical matter sister; it is even more of a void then Slipstream Space in that sense!"

The semantics of such obscure realms were blurry and always caused much head spinning in the intellectual community. Naturally that made it one of the many topics Twilight and Luna would discuss over tea when gathered.

Celestia felt her neck begin to slacken and hang lower than usual at the prospect. "Please Luna; let's not get into that debate again…" Her affinity was for social interactions and statecraft, not science and magic despite her extensive knowledge on the subjects.

"Only because we both know I will inevitably win Tia," she replied smugly.

Celestia could only groan at her sister's display of arrogance, even if it was in jest. "Let us just get on with this. I would like to get some sleep before the first of these aliens make contact, if they do. Space fairing species or not they are undoubtedly far more trouble than they're worth…"

Luna let out a shocked gasp. "But think of all the things we would be missing out on if they hadn't become str- uh, here oh so long ago… like democracy! I remember how much you enjoyed that one, especially when the minotaurs embraced it."

As annoying as Luna's teasing was Celestia couldn't help but smile inside. Sending Luna to Pinkie Pie to permanently snap her out of that awful moodiness that often clung to her had been a good choice, even with the consequences.

Prank wars, eccentric declarations and rampant investment of the exorbitant interest in her bank account that had built up over a thousand years of inactivity were a good sign of sorts. She was healing, letting go of those awful events that had stolen them form each other for a thousand years…

"Sister? Are you crying? I did not think you loathed that particular political arrangement to that degree," she joked lightly, knowing it not the true source of upset.

Celestia snapped out of it, braking out a light blush at letting her mannerisms slip. "My apologies, it's simply good to have you back Lulu." She said softly.

She lent close to her sister's and dimmed her voice to a whisper. "There is no shame in showing emotion sister. We would not be true ponies if we did not." Luna's mood sunk a little as she grew more serious, "I often wonder which of us received the greater punishment Tia. Without each other to shear our burdens…" she trailed off into mournful silence. "Let us not dwell on such unpleasant things. They are unpleasant," she declared firmly in an aloof manor.

Celestia couldn't help but slip a small giggle at the redundant statement. "I whole heartedly agree. With the situation up north in the Crystal Empire combined with these new developments things are about to get stressfully complicated I fear. Best not let such burdens rise up from the past."

Luna nodded once in firm agreement. "Indeed, with that particular emergence, as pleasant as it may seem I feel it may bear unforeseen complications."

"Yes, I do hope Shining Armour is faring well with his task."

"Worry not Tia, he is a fine stallion with a cool head. If any are qualified for this roll it is he," Luna comforted. "In fact, I would go so far as to say it is a shame he has embraced monogamy. I would be happy to welcome such a fine specimen of the male gender to the royal heard and mine bed alike!" she declared wishfully.

Celestia's eyes narrowed and her cheeks lit up. "Luna…!"

"What? It truly is a step back monogamy. 'Tis a thing of the dark ages not to share thy virtues and prosperity!" the moon princess countered with hidden glee at her sister's embarrassment, the attention of the guards and others augmenting it severely. "Why, in the days before my banishment we had dozens of willing harems between us! Our endurance ensured there was never a lonely night for thy palace staff either, all were welcome to share in our-"

"That is quite enough sister!" With the number of palace cleaning staff they had passed there was no way this wasn't going to leak to the press the following morning and the staff knew she was too soft to reprimand over such petty things…

Just like the last time.

"And that is not the only travesty in recreation. It would seem the law preventing ponies from covering their rear half in our presence has been repealed! Such a sign of trust and honesty to their princesses by putting their gorgeous rumps on display is essential not to mention the lack of self-confidence and worth by covering ones Cutie Mark implies…"

Celestia's teeth were now dangerously grinding and surprisingly in contradiction sharpening slightly. If one looked closely enough wisps of flame could even be seen dancing in her mane. She enjoyed such things as much as anypony but putting it all out on display? Luna, coming from an age of great feasts, strong ale and more intimate 'merry making' failed to grasp it was unbecoming for a princess in this day and age.

"Luna, I have spent much of the past few centuries trying to maintain the image of a perfect virginal princess," she said in a quite growl. "I would appreciate it if you would not disrupt that."

Luna seemed to recoil in surprise. "Well then, you have clearly not visited the many night shops in Canterlot. Not to mention the dreams of our subjects… they are surprisingly creative in this era."

Night shops, weren't they…? Celestia's eyes visibly widened. "What did you say!?"

And with that, the two sisters continued to discuss, argue and bicker over important 'social' matters long into the morning, oblivious to the unveilings that would be soon to follow and the brewing issues in the north.


	4. Chapter 4

Shining Armour spun around on his front hooves to deliver a powerful back kick to his target. The un-equine, twin toned voice crying out in shock and pain, a satisfying confirmation of his hoof work.

His hooves clopped loudly against the frozen cold cobblestone pavement where his opponent now huddled, reduced to a shivering pile of putty by the imposing stallion and nursing a cracked leg leaking thin purple tinted maroon blood. Shining Armour glared down at the crippled cretin in triumph, made all the more intimidating by the pair of armour clad Crystal pony guards behind him bearing stoic scowls.

When they had set out to establish contact with the surrounding towns of the Crystal Empire he had not expected this. What they had expected was a town holding on to its survival, on the brink of starvation only surviving on emergency rations alone. If they were lucky the 'crystal vein stones' in each of the settlement's keeps had ignited along with the crystal heart spreading warmth to the homes and ponies that undoubtedly needed it so.

The reason for this assumption was because King Sombra's curse was cruel in an oddly selective way. While it erased the ponies and their homes, even those beyond the capital and its citadel, seemingly from existence it left behind the crops to wither and die without the much needed attention the climate demanded for their cultivation.

They were mistaken and what they found was far more tragic.

To the west and north all the settlements were abandoned ruins accompanied by the graves of everypony who lived there. It was determined that the curse had initially covered these settlements but as its power waned the curse was set to release the towns further from the epicentre of the spell a few hundred years earlier than the capital. The result was that without their crops and without aid from the capital's emergency food stores or the empire's allies in Equestria oblivious to their reappearance they could not have lasted long.

But that was when things started getting strange. The further east they went the fewer graves they found, far fewer then there should have been and no bodies to account for the rest. Eventually some bright spark pointed out that if they were only finding graves and no bodies that somepony must have survived to bury them. After further examination they quickly noticed that anything of practical use not bound by foundations had been striped, including the vein stones.

When they finally reached the south east their scouts started finding not just surviving towns but thriving communities supported by immense green houses in addition to the traditional hardy crystalline crops required to live this far north. Naturally they withheld making contact until a proper delegation could be formed.

So when the time came Crown Prince Shining Armour, six escorting guards and a small group of royal advisers, accountants, legal experts and surveyors made their trip to the largest settlement yet discovered, one so large it might as well have been declared a city. According to the maps stored in the Royal archives and the grand library it was named Black Peak, after the large solitary rock formation its back edge was built on to. The multi-tiered city was supposed to be the second largest settlement outside the capital but had clearly grown to support many times the population as it did before, not to mention heavily increased defences when compared to records.

Each of the four tiers of the city now had a set of crystalline walls and watchtowers topped with anti-areal ballistas. Why the city needed such defences was yet unknown. It was suggested that maybe the settlements were at war with each other but that was disproved by the open trade that was observed, gate houses left open long into the night and opened early in the mornings.

It was decided that they wouldn't gain any more information by sitting around watching them. Besides, if they were caught 'spying' it would only disrupt negotiations. So he had confidently approached the guards watching the gate, having been spotted far sooner by the ones atop the watch towers.

His arrival caused surprisingly little commotion but the guards at the entrance had been rather surprised to see him walk confidently towards the gate. However they were not nearly as surprised as he was when he saw _it_ happily walking across the street beyond in a thick green coat and fur boots that hid it's more obvious features from view. His gut reaction charge and buck bringing Shining and the creature to their current predicament.

"What, are you doing here changeling!?" he demanded, having plenty of loathing and authority to pour into his voice. Even his guards seemed unnerved by it for a moment. Almost nothing could get their new captain to behave this angrily.

It began to stutter in an unsound mixture of fear and confusion.

"What are you doing here!? Is this some kind of take over? Are you squatters? Answer me, now!" Shining knew the vile emotions this creature was drawing from him were fundamentally adverse to who he was but the fact it was responsible for sparking those emotions out only made him hate it more. They simply dragged up too many uncomfortable, violating memories for him to deal with properly. The Queen had never gone _that_ far with him but she had still done enough to make him feel queasy every time he thought of the illusive creatures.

"I-I live here!" It declared desperately in a seemingly male voice, it was hard to tell through the naturel distortion and fear induced shaking. "Please j-just leave me alone!" It continued to wail depravedly, calling for help.

Startled murmuring was beginning to reach Shining now. Looking around he saw he had gathered quite the crowd of onlookers, passers-by and ponies emerging from their worn crystal grown houses. There were quite a few calls for the guard too.

He snorted in triumphant recognition. "You here that? The guards are coming; we'll have you locked up where we can get some answers out of you. You won't be hurting anypony anymore." Hopefully catching this creature between disguises would put him on good terms with the locals.

"What!?" a voice from behind him called him out much to his surprise, a voice reverberating with astonished anger. "But He hasn't done anything wrong! Who in Tartarus do you think you are!?" He turned to see a beige crystal pony donned in a thick apron with a hammer and tongs cutie mark on his flank. A half prepared smithy opening up for the day was visible not far down the street.

Shining met his stare, though with a nagging pang of disbelief. "Are you blind? This here is a changeling! They're parasites, a threat to society and a public menace; shape-shifters that steal away your family and feed off your love for them. No matter what it's told you it's lying, they deceive so they can thrive at your own expense," he stated confidently while sticking to the scripted explanation.

This only seemed to make the stallion angrier but before he could answer a distinctive buzzing filled the air, a buzzing that was all too memorable for Shining. Two changelings dressed in similar warm clothing with now more obvious slits for their wings dropped down on either side of the first, looking around in confusion and eyeing him and his guards suspiciously.

They braced themselves for a fight and Shining's group did the same.

"Mr Tongs!" The one on the right called, voice higher in pitch then the one he had attacked. Possibly female but Shining had next to no information on Changeling biology. "What happened here? Who are these ponies? Did they do this!?"

"Don't know who they are but if they don't answer for themselves sharpish you'll have my hooves to help you give them a walloping for marching in here and attacking young Fly Fast for no good reason." His dead level voice indicated no fear of the three combat trained stallions.

At this point Shining was beginning to realise the glare he was receiving from the smith was not unique. Many of the town's ponies were wearing similar looks and they were all directed at him. This was bad; if this many of the town's ponies were under the control of Changelings chances were so was its guard. The guard that judging by the loudening hoof falls was rapidly approaching. Soon he was blocked in a 'T' junction with a dozen crystal pony guards clad in chainmail, simple helmets and thick yellow tunics over the top displaying the coat of arms for the city. Most were armed with ornate halberds but a few had bladed hoof boots that would allow for quicker manoeuvring and faster attacks at the cost of reach.

Behind him an almighty slam rang out. As Shining turned sharply to look that way he saw the portcullis had been released by the two guards he passed on the way in trapping the rest of his procession outside the town walls. Being surrounded on all sides may have seemed like a bad situation and Shining's two escorts were certainly troubled but he felt he could repeal them without harming the guard ponies or any frenzied civilians. Getting out though would be a problem, if this town was as well defended as he thought it was that portcullis would have precautions against magical tampering.

One of the guards, a lieutenant judging by the extra decorative armour and markings, stepped forward from the right group. "What happened here? I got word of an armed assailant," he demanded before his eyes caught sight of the whimpering Changeling.

"Who hurt the young colt!? Was it you?" he accused in disbelief. "Damn it! Fire Starter's not going to be happy about this. Only thing we need now is for his wife to turn up…" he muttered agitatedly.

"Sir!" one of the gate guards answered briskly. "The white unicorn and entourage entered moments ago unannounced. He then proceeded to assault Fly Fast without warning or provocation."

The calls of confirmation from the growing crowd were disconcerting. He didn't want to hurt anypony but if the changelings made them all charge at once he was starting to think he could avoid it so easily now.

A second glance indeed told him the changeling was smaller than usual but this youth did little to limit his anger at their trickery here. Shining finally spoke up, doing his best to temper himself. It wasn't their fault, but whether they had been brain washed magically or simply manipulated through more conventional lying he still had to stand his ground. "That is no colt. That is a Changeling. I've dealt with their kind before; removing these parasites should be of the upmost importance."

The response unexpectedly came from behind. "Colt, may very well be the wrong term. But he is a youngling, my youngling, my Nymph! And you have attacked him for no crime that is his own," a stern female voice of the same overlapping pattern as the other changelings denounced.

The city guards around him began to glance nervously around, some even looked a few shades paler.

Slowly Shining turned to see a new changeling, one a bit more alien looking then any he had seen before flanked by yet another two of them looking equally as nervous as the guards. She had all the things that made a changeling a changeling, shiny black carapace, holes in her hooves, predatory fangs but was taller than average for a changeling. Her horn too, was larger with a single notch curving backwards at the base. That and she had a rich blue mane like the queen's in substance but retained the same blue compound eye structure as the others. Then there was the one thing he had not seen before, a pair black antenna ending in small white orbs.

Before Shining could properly take in what he was looking at a force jerked his head sharply to the right, a stinging pain now spreading through his left cheek. It took a moment for him to register that in the previous moment she had slapped him; a moment in which there was stone cold silence before all manner of cheering and gearing rang out in approval.

"Miss Lash! Please, control yourself," the lieutenant cried, trying to lower the sky scraping tension. "Let us handle it."

Surprisingly, she backed down but not before she had the final word. "You're lucky they are here unicorn, or I would have cut off your horn and grind it down for use in my alchemy experiments. I do not suffer those who hurt my brood lightly," she hissed at him. "Maple, Mildew; come with me. Let's get Fly Fast to the apothecary. Storm Fly, Double; keep an eye on this violent horse. If he doesn't get what is coming to him be sure to tell your father," she instructed strictly before hobbling off, cradling her wounded nymph.

As she did Shining noticed yet another unusual feature. Her wings were not clear, instead displaying a mosaic of bright blue segments, separated by velvet black and a smattering of golden streaks around the edge. It made her resemble some kind of vicious butterfly of sorts. It even struck him as beautiful in an odd, sharp way.

"Now you," the lieutenant said, addressing him and his escort. "I need you to surrender your armour and weapons. You're under arrest for battery and assault."

"What! But, I… they clearly have you under their influence. I can't trust you with mine or my comrade's custody with those parasites controlling you," he proclaimed boldly, the slightest niggling of doubt working its way into him.

The lieutenant looked perplexed for a moment before seeming to figure out what he meant. If Shining didn't question himself before the harsh laughter certainly drove home that feeling. "Let me get this straight, you think Gold Lash and her family have put me under some evil enchantment? No, just me won't do, it'd have to be the whole city! Ha, maybe we're all just changelings eh?"

Shining shifted uneasily, if discreetly, under his mockery. Looking to his escort he saw they had held their ground but it didn't look like they were in any state to do anything if things kicked off. Over by the portcullis his group was watching with apprehensive eyes, clearly questioning Shining's actions and worrying for the outcome. A couple even had the gall to start staring at him accusingly.

"If she had me under her spell why would I stop her from tearing you apart? You're lucky I believe in the rule of law because the mob would hardly be kind to somepony attacking her family after the work she does enchanting things and making some potent fertilisers around here, not to mention her husband is a Housecarl. Now, I ask again; surrender your weapons and armour or are we going to do this by force?"

The dead pan response left him looking like a fool and a violent one, or at least to their audience anyway. A part of Shining finally began to feel like caving in and letting things sort themselves out like they often seemed to do. Unfortunately he still had a duty to do here made all the more difficult by this turn of events.

It took a lot of effort not to sigh in exasperation at this point but he calmed himself. "Look, I'm afraid I can't do that. Changelings or not I'm here to contact you, to re-establish your connection to the rest of the Crystal Empire."

Now that had an impact. The civilians and guards alike dropped their anger in exchange for astonishment in an instant. Even the guards slackened up a little.

The lieutenant stared on wearily. "That… may changes things. You don't have a rank or title do you?"

"Shining Armour. Crown Prince and captain of the newly reinstated crystal guard," he stated flatly.

His adversary once again hardened and this time into an icy glare, his weapon subtly readying. "I didn't know Sombra had a spawn, or used ponies for his lackeys. Makes sense of you being a unicorn though…"

Shining's face screwed up in discussed. "Ugh, just-just no! I'm prince by marriage to the rightful hair. My wife, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, is all that remains of the Empire's royal family that fled from King Sombra at the beginning of his rule."

Shining neglected to mention the line was now technically dead; Cadence was only the hair because she happened to be adopted by the last two members. She never talked about what happened to her real parents.

"I see." His scowl lifted and a flash of embarrassment passed but his expression remained heavy as he thought. "I can't arrest you then but don't you dare think you're off the hook. Stand down and raze the portcullis!" The guards all obeyed, all lowering their weapons and those nearest rushing to the gate house to do as ordered. "You lot, I need ten of you to escort our…" he paused, looking over Shining suspiciously. "Our guests to the hold."

Ten guards almost immediately formed up around the reunited diplomatic team.

"As for you and your group," he addressed the diplomatic procession, "we need to go see the High King. Follow me." He turned back to shining, narrowed eyes trying to boar a hole in his head. "Stick close, wouldn't want to be ungracious hosts by letting our citizens dish out some justice," he remarked with heavy sarcasm.

Glancing at the escorting guards cautiously he only had a few simple replies he could give. "Lead on," well, give grudgingly that is.

Slowly they began to make the trek up the various tiers of the city to the keep, the biting cold nipping at their fetlocks. They passed many homes all arranged in the same curving pattern, fallowing the crystalline wall of their tier. Those walls were one of the main advantages the Crystal Empire had always had according to their library records. They were grown, not built and were far more solid than conventional stone and mortar walls. Could form a steadfast barricade in an hour or grow to a decent few stories height wall within half a week. It was a subject Equestrian guards serving as temporary axillaries in the Empire often joked about; "Instant defences! Just add water!" Their use could not be underestimated even in jest.

As Shining walked he kept his eyes forward as much as possible, trying to ignore the unwelcoming looks he was receiving. A part of him was beginning to regret not proceeding more carefully, not for the changeling's sake of course but for the sake of negotiations here.

As he walked a voice caught his ear. Now Shining was no eavesdropper but this voice was the distinct sort to belong to a changeling and any information would be helpful right now. "Hay sis, what does parasite mean? That wax for brains wouldn't stop calling us that."

"Seriously?" the same female who had challenged him earlier said in disbelief. "Don't you ever read?" Changelings didn't exactly have the most expressive features but a glance could tell how sheepish the one who asked was looking right now, the poor shmuck. She sighed before explaining like she had read it out of a dictionary, "a parasite is a creature that feeds off of another living organism at such an organism's expense, hurting them, often without the 'host' organism knowing of their existence at least until symptoms set in."

Another glance told that the changeling was now deep in thought, or rather as deep in thought as a creature like them could be. Then Shining got something he didn't expect.

"Oh. So you mean like ponies?"

At first he was shocked by the suggestion but it quickly evolved into a simmering, if confused, anger. How a changeling of all creatures had the gall to call a pony a parasite… well it didn't exactly make whole lot of sense.

"Huh? What end of Cunabula Harmonia did that come from?" Apparently the female was as confused by this comment as he was.

Shining had to stop himself and check if he heard that right; did she just use the official title for their world? It was fairly well known if not commonly used but it was rather surprising for him to hear a changeling use it.

A deep breath in signalled one of those long, rushed speeches coming. "Well, ponies harvest fruit and vegetables, yanking them out of the ground, cutting them up, boiling them, roasting them, sticking them in a stew and eating them. Since the vegetables are dead and dissolving in stomached acid there kind of uh… not benefiting from it and they can't think so they can't know about it. So doesn't that make them parasites? Wait, I like roast potatoes, does that mean I'm a parasite? Is that what the jerk was talking about? Because that's just hypocritical. Or does he see it as some sort of exclusive club we're imposing on? I'm not sticking to fish and fowl just because he says so."

That… actually made sense, if you accounted for the definition he was given. He could easily dismiss it as an honest misunderstanding. It actually reminded Shining a little of himself when he was younger; not the sharpest tool in the shed but certainly smart enough to get by as an officer until he honed himself a bit more.

"Weight, what? That…" There was a distinct smacking sound. If Shining had to guess it was probably a face-hoof performed by the female. "No, a parasite is like a bed bug, a flea or a mosquito, they don't kill their food. He was probably talking about how we feed on strong positive emotions, affection and stuff," she explained uncomfortably.

Once again Shining started to feel off-balance. A moment ago he actually forgot just what he was listening to. After all, once you got past the voices they sounded rather like a pair of young ponies. He even had to steal another glance just to reassure himself they were still changelings.

"But that doesn't make sense!" the first exclaimed in protest. "Feeding doesn't hurt ponies. Why would that make us a parasite? Wouldn't it make us a plant? That's what plants do, they just feed on light but they don't eat the sun. Like we do. On love, that is."

Shining was beginning to think this changeling's mind was a bit muddled. Clearly not stupid but he certainly didn't think in strait lines. Oddly enough that reminded him of something, didn't Twilight have a friend a lot like that? A vague memory of a frightening pink blur came to mind.

"Forcing it out with spells does hurt them though, if we do it too many times. It cases brain damage; they forget how to think or something. That's why Mum said she's not teaching us more magic till we're older. Our stuff is more dangerous than pony magic; more fun but more dangerous. Besides, you can still hurt relationships if you're not careful," she chided, clearly the older or at least wiser of the two.

It was odd and only added to his growing discomfort but it reminded him of time when he talked to Twilight about why she wasn't allowed to read His and their parents' magic books. For Shining that just wasn't right. They weren't supposed to be like this! According to every expert in Equestria they were supposed to have the cognitive abilities of a parrot! Only able to mimic language, not debate it. All born from the Queen to only be tools to her hive, not have families. They were supposed to only be changelings, another monster to be rid of.

That was the catch though, wasn't it? What if changelings were only another type of pony? They did look like ponies, roughly, and there were frankly more confusing animals out there like chimeras created long ago with rampant magical experiments performed by some demigod figure, Sleipnir if he remembered his history lessons.

What if changelings were just another one of those? Griffons were speculated to have been created in a similar way and they weren't mindless beasts. Maybe it was even a curse of some sort that could be removed and they were simply victims of it? That was a comforting thought. The idea that maybe all they needed was to be zapped with the Elements of Harmony and they would be normal happy ponies again was very comforting in a way. After all, who wanted to be a love sucking insectoid parasite?

Yes, comforting but far too optimistic to be true. There was also the fact they may not want to be 'cured'. He dismissed the silly thoughts.

"We're here. Come on your _majesty_. The King has a lot to discus with you," a voice announced sharply, his title dredged in a sarcastic drawl.

Shining shook himself out of auto-pilot and back into the real world to realise they had arrived at the tall and imposing dull green block of a keep, thick wooden doors open and waiting, beckoning him in with the wispy warmth spilling out. As they moved through the entrance hall each of his entourage besides the guards took time to examine the decorations. For the most part it was tapestries or paintings displaying heroes slaying various beasts or even battles against tribes of trolls and something that looked like Pegusi but just _wrong_ somehow. Maybe it had something to do with the needle like fangs he thought he saw.

The occasional weapon also made an appearance. There was also the moderately frequent appearance of something that had a distinctly changeling air about its design or style. This troubled Shining and the few of his companions who also recognised the significance. If these ponies had grown in whatever time they had been independent to glorify battle and fighting it would seriously conflict with the Crystal Empire and Equestria. To an even greater point they might have developed their own permanent government that would be opposed to connecting with the rest of the empire.

He was not left to his thoughts for long however as they soon reached the final pair of doors. They were smaller but far more impressive then the first, these decorated with carvings of crystal ponies farming their fields, building their homes, trading and of course, fighting for their lands. It was some comfort as it showed they held value in constructive activities as well as warfare. Hopefully he could build on that.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to leave your weapons out here. Its protocol, if you march in there with them the housecarls will tear you apart before you can even get a word in."

Reluctantly Shining unbuckled his sort sword clad in its scabbard from his side and passed it to a waiting local guard. The rest were much the same in their discomfort, though he had two of his guards remain armed and waiting outside the room.

"Good, now wait here," the lieutenant ordered before moving forward through the parting doors to speak to the regal figure sitting upon a sparsely decorated wooden throne.

Unfortunately there was something far more attention grabbing standing not far to the right of the throne. Yet _another_ changeling, this one with a two tone red and orange mane and eyes that if not for the dark blue compound irises would have strongly resembled the changeling Queen's. This new one was also tall enough to look himself in the eye. To add to Shining's list of problems the changeling was wearing an ornate set of steal armour, tufts of insulating fur protruding from around the edging and the large matching battle axe across its back. What made this even more significant was the similar sized pony dressed in matching armour on the other side of the throne.

The changeling was a guard, maybe even a soldier for this high King. What was the word the other used? Housecarl? If shining recalled correctly that was the name given to professional soldiers in pre-Equestria days when the Unicorn tribe was run under a feudal system. That meant he had to have been sworn in at the very least and before which he would have had to have done something to become a trusted member of the community. Shining was having a hard time excepting that such a feat might not have been achieved by trickery in this case.

However as the guard was quietly explaining the situation the new Changeling grew visibly disturbed. A moment more and he was looking towards the other two who shifted uncomfortably under his gaze and then looked to Shining. The look quickly turned to a stare and that stare quickly turned venomous. This was most lightly the farther mentioned earlier.

"Hum, very well then. Come forth! I wish to know what sort of ambassador sees it a fit move to disrupt the peace in the land of those he wishes to speak with." A stern voice rang out; one that reminded Shining of a disapproving Celestia a little too much for him to be comfortable with despite its masculinity.

The source was the regal figure lying across the throne, a Crystal Pony bearing a dark blue coat of fur, black mane and a thin beard. Draped around his shoulders was a dark burgundy felt cape rimed with fine white and black spotted fur and upon his head a brass coloured crown encrusted with a modest number jewels.

Shining trotted forward, head held high, expression kept neutral and privately vowed to be unbiased in this meeting even if the King's image vaguely reminded him of Sombra more then he liked. He could not mess this up; he had already put himself in a compromising position by attacking an alleged citizen so he had to maintain a respectful air.

"To whom do I address?" He asked, nodding curtly.

The stallion raised a brow, in some gesture of surprise. "High King Geodeus of the Crystal Remnant and Earl of Black Peak. I also believe I asked you first," he replied in distastefully dull tone.

Shining gave a courteous bow, not a deep submissive one but certainly respectful. "My apologies. I am Crown Prince Shining Armour of the Crystal Empire and Captain of its newly reinstated Guard. I take it you're in charge here?"

"I carry the title of High King and you would think otherwise? I cannot say I approve of your reasoning skills," he chided, clearly enjoying his position of dominance behind his emotional mask. "Very well, let's get on with this. First of all you are fined one thousand six hundred Fragments for your crimes, the thousand to this city state of the Remnant and the six hundred as reparation to the family you committed the crime against. Do you have any objections?" he explained wearing a tired expression. It was clear this was a fairly common announcement.

Shining had no problem with paying a fine if he had committed a crime but the fact he was giving compensation to changelings still upset him somewhat. "Yes, but it ties into maters of the state. I am concerned about the presents of enemies of the Empire you are housing."

For a moment the Kings face twisted to a baffled expression but quickly supressed it. "What enemies do you speak of? And how does this affect your fine?"

"I'm referring to the changelings; they have been declared a public enemy and are to be detained on sight and killed if necessary," Shining answered harshly, the decree actually listed them as a dangerous pest but he decided to avoid mentioning that for now. If one thing had been made clear in the past hour it was that they were not the dumb beasts he assumed.

The King was now presenting a mild frown, worried whispers from behind reminded him of two young changelings that had no doubt just heard. "Pray tell, why is that? Contact was indeed made with their Swarm prior to Sombra's takeover and while it was a far from present series of affairs it was resolved peacefully and certainly not enough to cause such a declaration. From what information we have only a few miners were injured when they accidently brock into their tunnels. The brief hostage situation that followed ended without any sort of bloodshed and an understanding was reached. I see no reason why the capital would see to declare that."

Now that was new information to Shining but it did not change the facts. "They have violently attacked allies of the Empire and recently. The capital of Equestria, Canterlot-"

"What did you say? Equestria?" he cut off harshly, only now coming to his hunches. "They are no allies of ours. Yyou…" he began leaning forward in his throne, examining Shining sceptically. "Tell me, you are of Equestrian breed are you not? And what of your wife, a unicorn of nobility?" Geodeus asked cryptically.

"No, she is an alicorn like all the ruling Princesses," he responded tentatively, Shining could feel this was not a pleasant path of enquiry.

The King's expiration seemed to twist into a painful grimace. "Celestia…" he murmured heatedly. "You are… a former citizen of Equestria? I know it is probable for obvious reasons. Would you consider yourself loyal to Celestia and Equestria?"

Shining had the distinct feel he was being asked a loaded question. "I… yes. I suppose so," he responded hesitantly.

"Oh? And why do you think she is worthy of your loyalty?"

He was taken aback by the question. Very few had reason, even foreign powers, to distrust Celestia as far as he knew. "She is a fair and kind ruler; I served as the captain of her royal guard for many years before marrying Princes Cadence. I have no reason to question her judgment."

"Then I cannot in good faith do more than negotiate with the independent Crystal Empire. I will give that manipulative chess mistress no ground here," he declared harshly.

He regarded Shining's shocked expression with naught but neutrality. "Before you ask long before Sombra was even born of union between a crystal pony noble and a unicorn magician Celestia had made countless attempts at annexing the Empire into her own principality. For every new monarch on the throne she has made countless arguments about why they should allow her to succeed their power to 'unite' the pony races. Every plea was met with refusal and was in turn met with underhanded economic suppression and even blatant sabotage. There was never any proof but it was far too obvious with how that arrogant brat of a princess behaved at the time.

"I will not allow a pawn, for make no mistake that is what you are, of hers to advance her own goals at our expense! You are not native to our lands and neither is your wife. I will not, nay, cannot submit my power to someone who is loyal to a foreign power over what they claim to be their own people!"

Geodeus was standing by now, as angry as one in his position could allow themselves to be. "She is known here as the 'Relentless Sun' for a reason. I cannot trust her and I cannot trust you. I will also not allow you to dictate how we may treat one of our closest allies that have stuck by us through the ages," he finished far more calmly.

For once in his life Shining was gobsmacked, to put it lightly. Eventually his brain managed to make some half sense of what had been said and came up with a question eventually. "What allies?" he asked dumbly.

The King retook his seat wearing a slightly smug smile and stated nonchalantly, "Have you not been listening? Why, the Changeling Swarm of course."

It took almost a minuet for Shining to form any sort of response. Taking in a few scattered refugees he expected but not this. "The changelings!? You're actually allied with those parasitic monsters!? Do you even know what they do to ponies?"

The King snorted, clearly showing his view of Shining's credibility here. "Do you? Tell me, how much about them can you tell me for certain? I have read a few books imported from Equestria, through changeling traders I will admit, and none of your so called professionals on the subject seem to have any idea what they are talking about. They are certainly a fairly secretive race but that is no excuse for well-educated professionals to just take shots in the dark on a matter they do not understand."

His mocking was beginning to great on Shining's nerves. It was much like a parent's scolding and showed that this King had little to no respect for him.

"I know for starters they are not to be trusted lightly. They are parasites by nature. Supporting them will only harm you in the end," Shining responded factually.

"Yet four hundred years of history say, actually, _proves_ otherwise. They have always helped us when we were in need and in return we have helped them. The only incidents they haven't were internal affairs they rightly stayed out of."

"But what about their food!? Surly you can't have known them so long and not know they consume ponies' love. They literally drain you of it! I should know, I've personally experienced it."

A slightly shocked glance from that changeling guard followed by a brief look of sympathy showed Shining there was at least some modicum of truth to their feeding magic and its ill side effects on victims.

"I know of their nature and yes their people have been caught feeding in our territory but as long as no harm comes of it we allow it and though some do take offence it is considered a personal matter to be settled as such as long as it does not escalate. You however are the first Equestrian I have ever met and the first thing you do is try to start a fight in my city," he countered, retuning to a more neutral tone.

Shining Armour once again found himself breathing heavily at the King's bullheadedness. However he steeled himself and calmed his nerves. "Look, I obviously made a mistake out there. That's fine; I'm willing to pay the price for that. Right now however, all I am interested in is properly reintegrating your people with the rest of the Empire and if I can't do that then at least secure some terms for peaceful coexistence, trade would also be nice. As for the changelings… I am merely concerned for your safety."

The King looked a little more placated now, taking a moment to think.

Finally he levelled his eyes with Shining's once more. "Very well, we had our own plans of how to handle the return of the capital, Chrysalis had even pledged military assistance in handling Sombra, but if the citizens there truly embrace you reign then there is little to be done about that. As for reuniting the fragments of the Empire… that is a far more complicated issue. We are used to doing things our own way and any changes Celestia sees fit to enact through you will probably not be welcome. One thing that is set in stone however is that if you take military action against the Swarm I warn you we _will_ support them over you."

"Even if they are responsible for some calamity against us?" he asked harshly.

The King was not dismayed by the question; in fact he smiled at it. "The answer to that question is simple. I trust them. I trust such strange creatures of deception over you. The reason being I know them well, my people know them well, so I know I can trust their word over yours. Unless confronted with undeniable evidence to the contrary their version of events and reasons will be accepted as reliable and trustworthy. I will be fair and give you a chance to prove your aptitude as an equal but I will not do so at the expense of their friendship."

Shining had to admit to himself, this King's and most likely his people's loyalty to their 'friends' ran deep. That was the magic word here; friendship. It bought forth the question that if the changelings were indeed playing nice with these ponies and that the chitin skinned guard in the corner wasn't some puppeteer in disguise, why had they attacked Equestria so fervently? Why not strive to create additional allies?

He gave a final sigh of acceptance. It would be best not to exacerbate things. "Very well, while it wasn't how I expected things to turn out I would be more than satisfied if you are willing to engage in peaceful and mutually beneficial relations. You have my word that we will not engage in unprovoked hostile action against you or your changeling 'friends'. However, if any are caught within our borders they will still be detained," he said neutrally, outlining his position as best he could.

The King pondered this for a moment. "I suppose that is acceptable, I will inform them that being caught trespassing on your land will not be tolerated but as for your word… that isn't exactly worth much to me."

Shining kept his composure. "I am no villain. Yes, I may have made a mistake assuming there was hostility where there was none but I won't start a war over a personal grudge. You said you would give me a chance to prove myself to you. Can I trust _your_ word?"

An amused grin spread across the King's face. "Indeed I just did. You will have your chance. I can't guarantee my subjects will forgive, or even forget but it is most likely they will accept you in time," he reassured.

Not the most reassuring notion but it would do. Now he had more important things to discuss. "Good. So… I think it would be best if we started by laying out our borders?"

He nodded. "A good place to start, yes. My map room should be able to provide us with all the necessaries. Tri Strike, with me. As for you Fire Starter I think your family need your attention right now."

The changeling took a bow. "My thanks my liege."

"Prince Shining wasn't it? Come, I assure you my hold is large enough for all your company." He rose and trotted off to the right where a door awaited.

They followed, Shining felling in step with the King.

"Oh, I just remembered. Your timing is rather fortunate." The King chuckled, his pace slowing a little. "I am to host the ambassador from the Changeling Swarm this evening. Perhaps you can settle your differences then yes? I'm sure he won't mind delaying his tour for the sake of sorting out whatever it is you have against them."

Shining caught on to what he meant quickly. He wanted Shining to get in cosy with his own friends for whatever reason. "Are you sure that's the right thing to do? So soon?"

Geodeus rolled his eyes quite openly at Shining. "No good in letting wounds fester my boy. I can tell most of the tension from you is because of them. You'll see, they are quite agreeable if you let them sink their teeth into you!" he commented with a hardy laugh. "You'll be surprised by some of the things they have up their sleeves they are willing to shear with friends, I can guarantee that. All the more so considering you think of them as beasts for now, we'll change that dreadful misconception soon but let's concentrate on the two of us for now." He picked up his pace and left a particularly worried Crown Prince trailing behind.

Shining couldn't help but worry about the future and even more so about how Cadence would react. Still, he had to contact her and there would a lot of explaining to do. It was a good thing they had arrangements in place for vague complications.


End file.
